As we close out 2025, it’s clear this has been a big year at Cremorne Digital Hub. One where we’ve meaningfully accelerated our goal: to be the best platform for connecting industry with Victoria’s innovation ecosystem.
That focus has sharpened what we do and why we do it. And at the centre of it all has been our community, the founders, partners, and supporters who have helped turn ideas into action.
This year, we hosted over 120 events and welcomed more than 2,500 people through our doors. Founders, investors, corporates, and ecosystem builders all came together to push Victoria’s innovation ecosystem forward.
We hosted numerous international delegations, reinforcing CDH’s role as a global gateway to Victoria’s innovation ecosystem. Our NEXT [Founder Community] has also grown to 140 members, founders who are building, scaling, and supporting each other through the challenges that come with building a startup.
This year we launched NEXT [Founder Day], an event series designed to be an access point to the markets, talent, and capital every startup needs to scale. From our first event in April, From Front Door To Funded, to our ecosystem-focused NEXT [Founder Community Day], which connected founders with organisations such as LaunchVic, Breakthrough Victoria, Euphemia, and Antler, these events have become a cornerstone of how we support founders as they scale.
We also officially launched the CDH Clubhouse, the “third space” for industry and innovators to work from. REA Group came on board alongside Versa AI as corporate members, and we welcomed our first cohort of startup members. But the Clubhouse is more than desks and meeting rooms. It includes hands-on workshops, one-to-one mentoring, and capability building designed to help industry and innovators accelerate their growth. It is shaping up to be exactly what we hoped: a value-led membership platform that meets founders and innovators where they are.
Some of our proudest moments this year came from collaboration:
- Kicking off 2025 with Melbourne’s only official NVIDIA GTC satellite event
- Hosting LaunchVic’s Basecamp and CivVic Labs accelerator cohorts
- Co-hosting events with Aussie Founders Club, including The Great Victorian Startup Debate and the Big Christmas Bash (if you missed it, check the video and prepare for FOMO)
- Hosting Artesian’s inaugural Yield agrifood innovation summit, two days, 80+ leaders, and real conversations about Australia’s agricultural future
- Working with brilliant partners like Carta, Breakthrough Victoria, The Community Collective, and more
We also got out and about, from Coffee and Croissants at SXSW Sydney with FKS and The Community Collective, to judging a hackathon with the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Engineering and IT, to partnering with HEX on HEXPO 2025. Every event reinforced the same lesson: when you bring the right people together, great things happen.
Looking ahead to 2026
As we head into 2026, we are kicking things off with CDH Cowork and Connect Day, a selective, application-only founder immersion day designed to help start the year with focus, momentum, and the right people around you. It’s also a chance to experience what the CDH Clubhouse can do to help startups accelerate their growth.
EOIs are open now, with limited spots available.
We will also be back with more of what our community loves through our 2026 event program. Expect more VC deck breakdowns with our friends at Galileo, high-value Lunch and Learn sessions from our community, stellar guests for our next Cremorne Connect, a new networking series, and much more.
Make sure you are signed up to our Luma calendar so you do not miss what we have planned for the new year.
To everyone who walked through our doors this year, whether for the first time or the fiftieth, thank you. Your ambition, generosity, and willingness to show up for each other is what makes this community what it is.
Wishing you a well-deserved break with the people who matter most. We will see you in 2026, ready to build.
